"Diana Wynne Jones - Mixed Magics" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

Luckily, since Towser was growling even louder than the car, the Willing
Warlock took his left foot off a pedal first. They shot off down the road.
"You are wasting petrol," the car told him.

"Oh, shut up," the Willing Warlock said. But nothing shut the car up, he
discovered, except not pressing so hard on the right-hand pedal.

Towser, on the other hand, seemed satisfied as soon as the car moved. He
let go of the Willing Warlock and loomed behind him on the backseat, while
the child sat and chanted, "Go on, go on, go on driving."

The Willing Warlock kept on driving. There is nothing else you can do if a
child, a dog the size of Towser, and a car all combine to make you. At least
the car was easy to drive. All the Willing Warlock had to do was sit there
not pressing the pedal too much and keep turning into the emptiest
streets. He had time to think. He knew the dog's name. If he could find out
the child's name, then he could work a spell on them both to make them let
him go.

"What's your name?" he asked, turning into a wide straight road with room
for three cars abreast in it.

"Jemima Jane," said the child. "Go on, go on, go on driving."

The Willing Warlock drove, muttering a spell. While he did, Towser made a
flowing sort of jump and landed in the passenger seat beside him, where
he sat in a royal way, staring out at the road. The Willing Warlock cowered
away from him and finished the spell in a gabble. The beast was as big as
a lion!

"You are wasting petrol," remarked the car.

Perhaps these things caused the Willing Warlock to muddle the spell. All
that happened was that Towser turned invisible.

There was an instant shriek from the backseat. "Where's Towser?"

The invisible space on the front passenger seat growled horri-bly. The
Willing Warlock did not know where its teeth were. He hurriedly revoked the
spell. Towser loomed beside him, looking reproachful.

"You're not to do that again!" said Jemima Jane.

"I won't if we all get out and walk," the Willing Warlock said cunningly.

A silence met this suggestion, with an undercurrent of snarl to it. The
Willing Warlock gave up for the moment and kept on driving. There were no
houses by the road anymore, only trees, grass, and a few cows, and the
road stretched into the distance, endlessly. The nice gray car, labeled
"WW100" in front and "XYZ123" behind, zoomed gently onward for nearly